Peter Lyssiotis in his studio |
The City: A Memory Album 3 October 2008 - 3 April 2009
For over 20 years, Peter Lyssiotis has worked with image and text to express powerful political commentary, as well as lyrical ideas about life and language. He has created many fine limited-edition artist books, and was a recipient of a Creative Fellowship at the State Library of Victoria in 2003. His work sits on shifting ground, somewhere between fact and fiction. He often 'travels' to foreign destinations through the words and images of writers and artists. Starting with photographic images, he uses processes of erasure, obscuring and layering to create new images, this time of imagined places and scenes.
In this evocative series Lyssiotis depicts cities in ruin, in images which themselves appear to be remnants of the devastation. As we view a seemingly ruined Melbourne or New York, we consider the city with deeper attention than we would do in our daily existence.
‘The City: A Memory Album seeks to image cities in ruins – including Melbourne. The project is premised on the notion that ruins lead us to true contemplation; ruins shepherd the imagination to a place where it can take time to extend itself and reconfigure what is before it. Whereas that which is complete, on the other hand, leaves only a minimal space for imagination. This project offers an alternative take on how to see the city we live in, and how we remember it.’
– Peter Lyssiotis
Memory runs contrary to architectural plans. While city planners and architects see the city in its planned, grid-like state, and in hyper-detail, we, on the other hand, catch just a glimpse, a view from the corner of our eye, but never the whole. In The City: A Memory Album, Peter Lyssiotis opens up the grid and its buildings so Time can do what Time does best.
Supported by the City of Melbourne through the Arts Grants Program.
See an online version of one of Peter Lyssiotis' artist books >
Illustration
Photograph by Doug Spowart |
Caroline Williams in front of one of her portraits | Beyond the Persona: Eminent Women of Victoria 25 October 2008 - 1 March 2009
Beyond the Persona: Eminent Women of Victoria is a free exhibition at the State Library of Victoria that celebrates the achievements of Victorian women through portraits of 12 significant, contemporary Victorian women, painted by Melbourne artist Caroline Williams.
The women depicted have contributed to the civic and business life of Victoria through their work in the arts, academia, science and social welfare. They are:
- arts administrator Alison Carroll
- bio-geneticist Suzanne Cory
- architect Suzanne Dance
- restaurateur and philanthropist Dure Dara
- author and activist Beatrice Faust
- community advocate Rhonda Galbally
- writer Helen Garner
- children’s health advocate Moira Kelly
- former Victorian Premier Joan Kirner
- writer and former publisher Hilary McPhee
- Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon
- Wurundjeri elder Joy Murphy-Wandin.
Williams' interest in this project was driven by a desire to renegotiate established ideas about perception, image and portraiture.
'Take 12 good women, portray them with conviction and show them to the public. This was the prime motivation,' Williams says. 'The social imperative is fuelled by the relative invisibility of women who, over time, create their own ground through courage and determination, and their capacity to do this without losing touch with family and community life.'
New Zealand-born Caroline Williams has exhibited in numerous exhibitions, and her work is held in collections in Australia and internationally. In 1981 Williams settled in Melbourne, where she became the second wife of gallery owner and cultural catalyst Georges Mora. Her portrait of Mora is in the State Library’s collection.
Sponsor
This project is supported by the Victorian Government Centenary of Women's Suffrage grant program. The exhibition is part of the program of events celebrating the centenary of Victorian women's voting rights. |
